You can’t hope to successfully fight Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria while at the same time appeasing the extremists next door in Iran. But unfortunately this continues to be the case with respect to the West’s approach toward the mullahs’ regime in Tehran. 

Beyond any superficial differences it might bear with the Iranian regime, the Islamic State (also dubbed ISIS or ISIL) will be looking up to Iran as a role model.  After all, what the Islamic State still dreams of, the mullahs ruling Tehran have already achieved: an Islamic fundamentalist state on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons, slaughtering and suppressing its population at will, exporting terrorism to all corners of the world, and enjoying a seat as a recognized member of the international community. What more can an extremist group ask for?

Therefore, the West -- and in particular the United States -- should take note that the policy in dealing with the Iranian regime will have a crucial role in either seeing the success or utter failure of the campaign to eliminate the regional and global security threat posed by the Islamic State.

Iran continues to avoid addressing questions about its suspected atomic bomb research and considers the dismantlement of its nuclear program as a red line. It is prodding its counterparts in the ongoing talks over its illicit nuclear ambitions to recognize its “right” to retain its capability to produce nuclear weapons, and has thus far forced U.S. President Barack Obama to shift his approach from “How to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb?” to “How to delay an Iranian nuclear bomb.” This weak approach could eventually lead to an irreversible disaster, putting nuclear arms in the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist regime and setting a bad example for extremist groups vying for hegemony and recognition in the region and across the world.

The Iranian regime continues to be among the worst human rights abusers and the leading state in per-capita executions across the globe. With an unprecedented execution rate in the past year, its new president, Hassan Rouhani, has proven that he is anything but the “moderate” figure he proclaimed to be upon assuming office. Iran continues to detain journalists, dole out heavy punishments to internet users, and suppress women and religious and ethnic minorities under the name of god and Islam. 

“Either you're with us or we kill you,” is how Laurent Fabius described the mantra of the Islamic State, when world powers met in Paris to give backing to the military campaign against the extremist group. Yet the West continues rapprochement with the Iranian regime, which is just as violent and harsh toward its opponents.

The Iranian regime continues cracking down on opposition forces and dissidents with wild abandon, detaining, torturing, and executing them at home, and murdering them abroad. Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, Rouhani’s justice minister, has personally overseen the execution of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988, most of them supporters and members of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), a popular opposition group that has been advocating for the establishment of a free, democratic, and secular government in Iran since the 80s.

Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism and continues to haunt the Middle East through its proxy terrorist groups, especially in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and is largely responsible for the rise of the Islamic State. If the Islamic State is a potential threat for U.S. national security and global peace, Iran has already targeted the national security of the United States and other countries on numerous accounts in past decades, including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. marines’ barracks in Beirut, the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, the plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington, and the killings of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, to name a few.  What’s more, there are credible reports that Iran has safe harbored, trained, and supplied the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks against the World Trading Center in New York.

By all accounts, the Iranian regime is just as bad as the Islamic State -- if not worse. Not holding it to account for its crimes against humanity and its disregard for international norms and values will definitely have a bad influence on emerging extremist groups like the Islamic State, which strives to establish a rule that -- if slightly different in name -- is in effect no different from Iran’s despotic regime. 

The continuation of the weak appeasement policy toward the mullahs has allowed them to maintain their reign of terror, and will convince other extremists that in time, they can actually tire the West and push it into giving in to their brutal and murderous ways, and call for cajolement and negotiations. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled caliph and purported leader of the Islamic State, will look at pictures of Rouhani shaking hands with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and chatting on the phone with U.S. President Barack Obama, and he will harbor dreams of one day standing a similar position.

Alternately, a tough stance in dealing with the evil deeds of the Iranian regime at home, in the Middle East and across the globe will send a strong message, asserting that the international community will not recognize nor tolerate extremism and Islamic fundamentalism one bit. Embracing a democratic and secular alternative to the Iranian regime will be a crucial first step in this regard. Fortunately, such and alternative already exists in the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance (NCRI), which have been promoting democratic regime change in Iran for decades, and are bent on creating a nuclear-free state that lives in peace and harmony with all countries in the region and across the world.

Amir Basiri is an Iranian human rights activist and supporter of democratic regime change in Iran.

Follow him on Twitter: @Amir_bas